


Killing the Pain

by Kidds (orphan_account)



Category: DCU, Green Lantern (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Relationships, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 17:56:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4446134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Kidds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Overworked and totally broke, Hal meets some trouble on his way home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Killing the Pain

The Watchtower was unusually quiet. Batman looked around and he saw his teammates minding their own business. Except for one. Hal Jordan. The Green Lantern. It was unusual that Hal wasn't in the watchtower. He felt at home with his 'friends', as Hal liked to call them. Sure, Bruce didn't hate the Green Lantern but he wasn't his friend. 

Suddenly the doors to the living room opened. Hal walked in. But he wasn't the smiling, goofy man they were used to. 

"Hey guys!" He waved at them and smiled.

"Hey man!" Flash ran at his friend and hugged him and lifted him up a few inches. Bruce could clearly hear Hal sucking in the air. Clearly, Barry didn't notice something wrong about his friend. The Flash let the other man down and patted his shoulder, pushing him out of the room at the same time. The door closed behind them and silence was in the room once again. 

"Bruce..." Clark started.

"Yes I know." Bruce answered. He knew exactly what Clark meant. Hal looked really ill. He didn't want to admit it but he was worried about him.

Hal was thin. 

You could clearly see his rips and bones, due to the tight suit he was wearing.  
But that was not the only thing that bugged him.  
There were really thick black circles around his eyes. That meant he was not sleeping good, or he wasn't sleeping long. Or both.

"Will you talk to him?"

Clark looked at him. Big blue eyes stared at Bruce with a little pout on his lips, Bruce could feel himself getting weak. Clarks eyes reminded him a lot of the blue eyes of his son, Dick, who could make him do everything, just because of a few blinks with his eyes.

"Maybe later." 

He could see the disappointment in Clarks eyes. He sighed and looked and his friend.

"Don't worry. I'll talk to him, god damn it." 

Clark smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks."

 

~~~~~~~~in the evening~~~~~~~~

Hal POV

Hal plopped himself on his rusty, old sofa. His rips aching as he laid himself on the hard furniture. Thinking back to the morning of this day, Hal felt the nausea creeping up his neck. Every breath hurt so much! Rolling onto his side, clutching his rips, Hal tried to breath calmly. He gently touched his face, where a big bruise started to form. He still felt the fists on his body and the baseball bat cracking his rips. 

Hal tried to sleep but the cold in his small, shitty flat didn't really help. They trimmed his power supply. He couldn't pay his taxes, nor his rent, because let's face it. Being responsible for a part of the universe and protecting it, didn't pay well.  
He just hoped, that they wouldn't throw him out, because he didn't know where he should go.

He curled into himself and shivered. Hal rubbed his arms and tried to will away the cold.

Feeling his stomach growling, he stood up, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and walked into his kitchen. He wanted to grab something out of the fridge but then remembered that he didn't have any energy, for the fridge to work. 

He heard a knock on the door and turned around. Who would visit him at 10pm? Maybe it was an emergency and the league needed his help. Stumbling to the door he wrapped the blanket tighter around his shoulders. He felt his ring on his finger and prepared himself to attack.

He opened the door. Who he met was a big surprise.

"Bruce..."

What was he doing here? Was he right? Was there an emergency?

"Lantern..."

Bruce was wearing one of his expensive suits. Hal wondered if he had anything else beside his suits.

"What do you want?" He asked annoyed. He was really cold already and standing in the doorway with the cold blowing in his flat didn't help.

"Can I come in. This will probably take a while." Bruce noticed the bruise on his face, but didn't say anything.

Hal sighed and let Bruce in. 

"Why is it so cold in here?" Bruce asked, trying to start a conversation with his bad social skills.

"It's none of your business!" Hal snapped. It was an justified question, still he didn't want his problems to get known by the whole league.  
He could see the surprise on the Bats face. 

"Now again. What do you want?"

"Believe it or not but me and the league are worried about you."

"Worried? About me? Why would you? I'm perfectly fine." Hal knew he said this all too fast. He knew Bruce was certain that something was wrong. Hell, everything was wrong!

"Hal..." Bruce said his name. He actually said his name. The softness in his voice was surprising for the Green Lantern. 

"I...I can't pay the rent, you know. That's why it's so cold here." Hal sat down on his sofa and put his face into his hands.  
Bruce sat down next to him. 

"Why?" Bruce asked.

"You know, saving the universe is not being paid well."

"Why haven't you said anything?" 

"I didn't want to bother you guys with my stupid problems. You have got your own things to worry about."

Both of them were quiet again.

Both of the men sat in the small room in silence, until Bruce spoke.

"What's that?" He asked pointing at the blue and purple bruise, which was clearly visible under the too big shirt of Hal.  
He put his hand on his arm and looked away.  
"It's nothing, really. Just a few bruises . Lantern business, you know."  
The lie was bad and both of the men knew it.

"You last mission was a week ago and those bruises look very fresh."

Closing his eyes, he knew he was busted. 

"What do you know anyway, huh? You are rich! You know nothing about me! I work my ass off! Every day, trying to save the universe! And you," he stood up, pointing at tue chest of the other man. "Sit in your manor! Eating food your butler made for you, while I got beaten up by a punks on my way home! But yeah! Everyone fears the mighty Batman and everyone loves Bruce Wayne! No one cares about stupid Green Lantern!"  
Hal stood in front of the billionaire, panting like he ran a marathon.

Hal turned around, facing away from Bruce.

"I'm sorry. That was really immature." Hal hung his shoulders.

"Is that something new?" Bruce tried to joke. That never ended well.

"You are right." That was it. He agreed Bruce. He never agreed Bruce. 

The black haired man stood up and placed a hand on Hals shoulder.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Since when was Bruce so caring?

"It was nothing. It's just..." He sighed and put the blanket tighter around his shoulders.  
"When I walked home, after our meeting... I knew I was followed."

~~~~~~~a few hours earlier~~~~~~~

Hal shoved his hands into his pockets. It was getting colder by each day. He heard footsteps behind him. Their footsteps were loud and clumsy. Drunk men.  
That wasn't good. It was never good.  
Quickening his walk home he heard how the steps behind him got quicker too. 

"Hey! Faggot!"

They've locked their target. It was Hal. Nearly running now, he threw himself in the next alleyway. Bad mistake. They followed him. Running further into the dark he had to run into a dead end. That was just his luck. Turning around he thought about using his ring, but decided against it.

"What do you want?" He yelled at them.

"You..." One of the man slurred. "You slept with my wife!" His wife? The last time he had sex was half a year ago!

"Sorry pal, but I think you confused me with someone else." The drunk man and his friends weren't really bothered, by what Hal had said. They hit him. Right into the face. He fell back and hit his head on the wall behind him. One of the smaller men gripped his collar and pulled him up and pushed him against the wall again.  
He felt himself being hit again. Was that a bat? Ow! Yep that was one. 

After a while he didn't feel anything anymore, except pain. Lying on the ground he tried to curl into himself, protecting his rips from the assault.

Slowly he slipped into the familiar and welcoming darkness.

 

~~~~~~~~back to present~~~~~~~~

"Then I woke up and got back here. Then you knocked on my door." Hal finished his story and looked away. Bruce knew it was embarrassing for the other man.

"You know I'm not the most emotional person."

"No shit, Spooky."

"The point is, do you want a hug?"

"A hug? From you?" Hal laughed nervously.

"Yes," Bruce said sternly and opened his arms.

Hal hesitated but finally settled into the Bats arms. He felt the strong arms wrap around him. It was comforting, to say at least. Hal put his head on the board shoulders and he felt himself relaxing.

"Thanks." Hal muttered.

Bruce smiled into the hair of Hal.

"You are welcome"


End file.
